Carnival in Antigua continues to market itself as the Caribbean’s greatest summer festival, but ironically much of the world has yet to experience how Antiguans “does” party, and the real reasons why our carnival is so remarkable.
Seeing the need to expand our summer festivities beyond the rock, Insane Carnival, a local troupe with only two years on ‘de road’, has decided to pick up the baton where expansion is concerned.
At the time of this interview Captain Brown, one of the troupe’s directors, was still in Miami tying up some loose ends after having a successful first year on de road at the Miami Broward Carnival.
Thanks to technology, Brown was able to participate in a voice note interview, explaining to P Social the details behind the inception and execution of the Insane Carnival experience abroad, as well as future plans to go international.
Our exclusive interview with him is as follows:
What Inspired Insane Carnival to try Miami Carnival?
The inspiration dates back to 2014, and after a successful year on the road in Antigua, we wanted to expand and take carnival outside of Antigua and Barbuda.
We had the Marketing Manager of the Miami Broward Carnival with us on the truck for our theme this year, Rio, and was blown away by the energy and the vibes. He then invited us to Miami and is what will start Miami Carnival international as we start to branch out into the different states.
How did Insane market the troupe to masqueraders in Miami?
The band was marketed through social media, and we had our launch through Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, so the information went out to the masses and the response was really good. We also used our website and our artists.
Claudette Peters used her network in New York City, and promoted our band at all the labour day events that she participated in.
There were a few people questioning the cheaper cost of the American costumes. Why was that?
People commented that the costumes were an upgrade from the Antigua carnival, although it was the same theme. We offered the same sections we launched in Antigua to Miami, but we jazzed them up and made them better, but the costumes were not necessarily cheaper than the costumes in Antigua. Antigua carnival is two days and Miami carnival is one day, so when you compare the prices of the carnival packages, Miami looked cheaper, when in fact the costume prices were similar.
We also had to take into consideration that we are breaking into a brand new market so we had to make it affordable for people joining for the first time, or anyone wanting to join us at the last minute.
How many people played mas in Insane Carnival Miami this year?
We had just over 75 people registered with us, however the band had over 100 people because the music and the vibes were so good that people were leaving their bands to come jam with us.
The people on the side of the road were jumping in, enjoying the excitement. The feedback from Miami carnival was great! People loved the fact that we were waving the flag of Antigua and Barbuda high.
The music, excitement and energy that we executed on the road were second to none.
People were like, “You guys are a small band but you all jumped from beginning to end!”
Any lessons learned?
Planning. We had little to no time to execute this.
It really is a feather in our cap that we were able to execute this based on the limited time that we had. We definitely have to get on the ground earlier, touch base with the people who can help us get ready for carnival next year; we had a lot of help from friends of mine who were very instrumental in making things happen.
Everyone embraced the fact that an Antigua and Barbuda band was coming and I am very grateful for that.
Who were the entertainers on the road?
I couldn’t desire better from the entertainers.
Let’s start with Claudette “CP” Peters and Super Mario who from the beginning, interacted with the troupers and took pictures with them. On the road they were a bunch of fun and they sang their music, I was so happy to see them on the truck and the response that they got.
It was good to see and hear Antiguan music out there and the best is yet to come. We also had our DJs Super Diamond, 62 and DJ Tuffis; these guys were just amazing! These guys stood tall, shoulder-to-shoulder with the other Miami DJs.
We have a lot of talent in Antigua and its apparent that once we give them the avenues to showcase their talent they will be seen rubbing shoulders with Private Ryan and the other popular DJs, because these guys can entertain; they know how to play music.
Who are the integral members of the Insane team?
The team consists of myself, Janna Henry, Oluichi Morton, Riggy, Tami, Marsha, Wendy, Michael; they know themselves. These are the people that came to the office and helped put the production together.
They made a lot of sacrifice to make it happen, and I want to personally thank them for their time and dedication for helping us execute Miami 2015. We are already planning for 2016, because we want Antigua, through Insane, to be one of the dominant bands on the road and that can only come with preparation.
People should plan for next year because Insane Carnival will be a force to be reckoned with at Miami Broward carnival 2016.